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ORGANIZATION 



—AND 




RUCKER SMITH 

COOPERATION ARE 
THE ONLY HOPES FOR 
THE BLACK MAN IN 
THIS COUNTRY 



INTRODUCTORY 



It is the aim of the wri'f nr 
to inculcate into the mind ')f 
the Colored Race the nee ?- 
sity of organization and y 
operation. With this p .r- 
pose in mind, I have d( ' e 
my best to make plain \ e 
primary pinciples of both 



JUL -5 1916 



^^^^Oa 



■is-^finr. 



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ORGANIZATION 

AND 

COOPERATION 

ARE THE ONLY HOPES 

FOR THE 

BLACK MAN IN THIS 
COUNTRY 

COPYRIGHTED, 1916 
BY RUCKER SMITH 



Press of 

thp: gray printing go. 

Kansas City, Kansas 



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ORGANIZATION 

»? ^ ^ 

'T'HE most interesting part of the Unit- 
ed States History to the colored 

man began in 1861; tlie inauguration of 
Abraham Lincoln, the avowed abolition- 
ist, the seceding of the Southern States, 
forming a solid Southern Confederacy, 
to make more secure the institution of 
chattel slavery, and the final climax end- 
ing in Lee's surrender at the Apx^omat- 
tox Court House, April 9th. 1865. This 
great conflict, according to history, cost 
nearly one million lives, caused to heap 
up a debt on the government, $2,845,000,- 
000, besides the millions of dollars never 
accounted for, the devastated property 
of the South. This is mentioned to im- 
press upon you the cost of your free- 
dom. Could it have been done for spite 
or were these people, who gave up their 
lives, sincere, or did they know what 
they were doing? Is it possible that a 
people who fought so bravely to wipe 
out the curse of chattel slavery, could 
not solve the problem any better than 
they have? "What to do with the Negro" 
was the most perplexing problem im- 
mediately after the war, and it is today-» 
The Federal government would seveieK 
punish anyone who would attempt to re- 
enslave the Negro, but the Federal gov- 
' ernment is not big or powerful enough 
to give the Negro an equal chance with 
his white brother. The natural law gov- 
erning sociability predominates over 



N 



statute law. The 13th Amendment was 
sufficient to give all the colored people 
every right or privilege, had it been pos- 
sible to grant those things by law, when 
we got freedom. There were two ques- 
tions settled by the war of the 60's: Be- 
sides dooming slavery, this war settled 
forever the question "States' rights." 
that no State, having once joined the 
Union, can never secede. Ever since 
the great emancipator. Lincoln, issued 
the proclamation making us "free," we 
have been on a "still" hunt looking for 
freedom. If we hear of a colored per- 
son being treated as a real human being, 
given a chance according to their ability, 
free from the "monster prejudice." we 
wonder is it possible after all that we 
were mistaken, and have judged a peo- 
ple wrong. But when we look about us 
and see college girls and boys of our 
race washing the windows down town 
and the pots and pans in the homes of 
the men who run the down town dis- 
trict, we know that we are not mistaken. 
Yet with these overwhelming facts of 
our hopeless struggle to make good in 
a country where the dominant people 
are extremely prejudiced and after 50 
years show no signs of changing, we are 
.vetj^ersuaded to believe that it is for the 
best and will all come out alright some 
day. This view of the problem being- 
accepted by so many, is what makes it 
so serious, even tragical. There is no 
grounds for this conclusion, after look- 
ing over the history of the race for the 
last 50 years, there is no reason to be- 

(4.) 



lieve that it will change without a great- 
er effort than we have put forth in the 
past. 

The one great fault that hinders our 
progress is lack of organization along 
labor and industrial lines. For instance, 
we take our great cities where w^e make 
up considerable portion of the popula- 
tion, we find the white worker organized 
for the purpose of protecting their inter- 
est, but the Negroes stand in awe of 
their unions, without once attempting to 
organize to meet them on the field of la- 
bor. For an example, we take Kansas 
Citj^ to illustrate the real standing of 
the Negro in this country; what is true 
here, is about true everywhere. Here 
at the intersection of the Kaw and Mis- 
souri rivers, where the great floods have 
caused disaster to life and property, the 
Negro has shown as much loyalty at 
these periodical, capricious outbursts of 
these two treacherous rivers as any oth- 
er citizen, he has unsparingly^ given his 
labor, yea, his life at times of great dis- 
tress; has done his part in lowei'ing the 
ungainly hills, and digging the tunnels, 
in building the many magnificent sky- 
scrapers; in every way where real labor 
was needed, the Negro did his part, the 
unskilled part. In return for our loy- 
alty we have been given, in most places, 
some very good public schools to edu- 
cate our children; these schools are well 
equipped to prepare our children for 
any king of commercial business, just 
wiiat all schools are for. The great bulk 
of business could not be carried on if 

(5) 



these schools did not exist. This ques- 
tion might be asked, why do we, as Neg- 
roes want schools equal to the whites 
when our boys and girls have no chance 
to exercise their commercial education 
the same as white pupils? If it is true 
that our schools are mostly for the pur- 
pose of fitting our children for commer- 
cial life, it can hardly be disputed, why 
don't we attempt to make places for 
them, we certainly are convinced now 
that the white people are not going to do 
it. 

There has been too much talk about 
success in our race, when in truth, we 
are going back if anything. We are los- 
ing the old jobs we once considered ours, 
instead of making places in the commer- 
cial world, why are we failing? You 
might say it is prejudice, which is of 
course, part of the cause, but the main 
thing is lack of organization: we are well 
organized religiously, socially, but in- 
dustrially we stand apart. Whenever the 
Avhite race wants to do any thing, if it 
is nothing more than to segregate us, 
they organize; when we want to do some- 
thing that is very necessary to our wel- 
fare, we make a fuss or ask the white 
man can we do it. This is a childish 
weakness that we must rid ourselves of 
No matter where you live, if you are col- 
ored, there is something going on that 
is detrimental to the race. Form an or- 
ganization to fight it; here in Kansas City 
a certian part of the City had become 
stagnated as far as business was con- 



cerned, about a dozen property owners 
formed themselves into a boosters club, 
with one purpose to boost that section of 
the City, they have accomplished won- 
derful things through their organization, 
that could not have been done any other 
way. There is nothing too big for people 
to do through proper organization: when 
we wish to form a social club for the 
purpose of enjoyment, we always organ- 
ize, but when we are confronted with 
some very stiff problem of a racial nature, 
we wilteraway, give up and allow things 
to take its course, which sometimes is a 
very serious set back to us. There should 
be an organization of colored men and 
women in every commercial center to 
look after the boys and girls who leave 
school; see that they get a chance. Any 
pupil who goes as far as the "^^th grade, 
has a very good commercial education, 
and should be given a chance; an organ- 
ization of this kind could induce some of 
the big concerns to give us at least one 
clerical department for Negroes. De- 
mand it as your right to have it; ask 
your city to pass a law against anyone 
refusing to empk:)y a person on account 
of his color. They won't do it, of course, 
but it will serve the purpose of letting 
the public know that you want recogni- 
tion as a people. Don't move out of a 
neighborhood because it is not clean or 
moral, organize your best people into a 
society to make it a good place. Don't 
run from these bad things, but make 
them j-un from you. Dcm't put in too 

(T) 



much time in forming your society, re- 
member the one purpose of your organ- 
ization, and stick to it, if you run against 
a stone wall batter it down, it will fall in 
time. Immorality among our race is one 
of the main things to fight, we should 
study the cause of it and try to remove 
it. There should be an organization in 
every community against gambling, a- 
gainst booze selling rooming houses, 
against the revolting vice that exists be- 
tween white men and colored women. 
It would be hard to count the number 
of organizations among the white people. 
They are organized against every thing 
that is a menace to their purity, or a 
drawback to their making a living, we 
could overcome many of our stubborn 
problems if we would but apply the 
system of organization. It is said that 
we can not stick together, neither can 
the white people, they are divided on 
most every thing but there is always a 
few people who can stick together and 
these few j^eople are running and shap- 
ing things as they would have them to go 
The biggest accomplishments are the re- 
sults of organizations started by a hand- 
ful of people, but they keep a pounding 
until they get the required support. 
No doubt, if we are to get a square deal 
there should be some form of coloniza- 
tion in this country, for the purpose of 
development if nothing else. It should be 
started by those who believe in Coloniza- 
tion and would give it a thorough trial. 
There should be a National Industrial 

Union among Negroes: there should be 

(8) 



a national organization advocating coloni- 
zation; each one should be powerful 
enough to get the ear of our Govern- 
ment at times of distress. A large or- 
ganization is always given some consid- 
eration. 

Five people can start an organization 
that can be made to do some very effec- 
tive work. All of the big monied men 
have an organization for every separate 
branch of their business, no matter 
what obstacle may confront them, they 
usually overcome it. The white working 
class has a splendid organization to protect 
themselves against the owning class; ev- 
en the hoboes among the whites have an 
organization that is serving for these 
unfortunate people a good purpose. The 
same forces that will cause a white man 
to be a hobo will make the black man a 
hobo; if there is a need for a hotel to help 
the unfortunate whites, we are certainly 
not looking after our own people unless 
we have them. 

If a hotel for working girls of the 
white race is necessary, in our cities, 
we sliould have them also. If the white 
people have an organization for the sup- 
pression of vice, in your city, you need 
one. They will not look after the vices 
that exist among colored people as you 
can, and we should not expect it. 

I have mentioned a few of the many 
organizations needed by our race, but 
the most important thing about these 
organizations is the spirit behind them. 
They must be firm in their undertak- 

(9) 



ings, and allow nothing to sidetrack you 
or cause you to vary from your purpose. 
Most of our people in trying to do some 
good for the race usually call in the 
preacher, here is where we fail. The 
preacher is always looking for more sup- 
port for his church, and after a lengthy 
talk he is likely to wind up his talk by 
saying the Lord will look after these 
things, but he doesn't let the Lord look 
after his collection. If you want to ac- 
complish anything don't let anyone talk 
on a subject that is foreign to your pur- 
pose. If you are religious don't let that 
keep you from doing your duty here on 
earth. The white man is also religious, 
but he does not allow that to interfere 
with his doing good on the earth. Besides 
the many little organizations that are 
needed to insure progress, the one of 
the most importance is a National Union 
of Negroes formed for the exy^ress pur- 
pose of bettering the working and living 
conditions of the race. Were 3^ou ever 
standing on the street when a body of 
Negroes was marching by and have some 
white person to ask you who are they 
and what are they doing? In telling them 
that it was some lodge turning out. the 
the questioner evinces no farther in- 
terest and walks away. It would be 
much different if we were able to say, 
why, that's the 'Industrial Union of Neg- 
roes of America.' This would strike 
terror to our white brothers, it would 
mean something more than a mere show, 
it would mean real progress for the en- 
tire race. Organization is our only hope 

(10) 



for bettering our condition in this life. 
We have tried for more than fifty years 
to be patient, obedient, hoping that some 
unknown power might clear away the 
many obstacles that are strewn in our 
pathway. We have watched for some sign 
or token of friendship from our white 
brother, showing that our struggles to 
make good, had not been in vain. We 
have taken him at his word when he said, 
"You are too ignorant," and have be- 
come, to a great extent, educated, and if 
it is impossible now for him to take 
down the bar and recognize us as men 
and women, it will ahvays be. After 
viewing the situation in this country, (I 
don't see how any colored person could 
come to any other conclusion) the in- 
creasing prejudice, the many race riots 
and the least insignificant offense from 
one of us in some parts of the country, 
will bring about a calamity to all of us, 
we are forced to accept the true state of 
affairs and work out our own solution. 
Organization can be made to meet many 
of our wants. It should be simplified if 
it is to be effective; in organizations where 
you are aiming to correct some neigli- 
borhood mena«e, don't think it necessary 
to advertise in your white paper; don't 
have a president, elect a chairman at 
each meeting, pass it around, that will 
cause more interest to be manifested. 
It might be wise to have a permanent 
secretary. Don't beg for money, there 
is not much need for money in most of 
the organizations such as the suj^pres- 
sion of vice, gambling or prostitution. 

(11) 



Whatever you want or don't want, or- 
ganize. It is the one best weapon. Try 
it. 




(12) 



Cooperation 

>? *? ^ 

There is one word in the English lan- 
guage that is so important, so little un- 
derstood by most of the very people to 
whom it means so much, it is necessary 
for me to dwell for a time on its explan- 
ation, "Co-operation". I think it should 
be shortened to co-op, when ever pos- 
sible, with accent on the op ; it sounds 
better and if shortening this very, very 
important word will cause more people 
to grasp its meaning, it certainly will be 
worth trying. 

Co-operation means to the Negro, or 
the working class, just what corporation 
means to the rich, or that class who 
own everything. To co-op means all of 
us can own and run a thing for all ; cor- 
poration means that a few can own a 
necessary article, it might be bread, and 
make all of us pay their price; some dif- 
ference ; but don't get the two words 
confused, it might be fatal to you. 

On the account of the colored race 
starting out after the end of chattel 
slavery, all on about the same level, we 
had to co-op in. many ways in order to 
live, it was a natural force, we could not 
help it, w^e all went together to live, to 
work, to enjoy ourselves and we are 
still together, l)Ut we don't own any 
thing together, no industries of any kind. 
A few X^egroes have startled the world, 

(13) 



by their ability to make money, but that 
cannot be considered a racial advance- 
ment, they may have made it off of their 
own race, causing much suffering. We 

own several million dollars worth of 
church and lodge property, but no prop- 
erty that will furnish us a job. Why 
don't we ? Because we have not tried. 
There should be, in every community 
where there is a sufficient number of 
people to have a church, a community 
owned industry of some kind. When we 
deyelop to that state, we can boast of 
progress. 

As slaves, we were house servants, 
bootblacks, table waiters for our white 
master. Wliat are Ave now ? Are we not 
holding the same jobs, when we can get 
them? Everything is in our favor to- 
wards building up industries that would 
be strictly racial institutions. For in- 
stance, in many places we are forced to 
live in certain neighborhoods, we are 
forced to work at certain jobs, and many 
places we arc forced to sit in a place on 
street cars, on trains, at public parks, 
designated by the white people. All of 
this has a tendency to make us have, 
in common, one grievance, one problem 
for all of us to solve. This being the 
true state of affairs, why not take the 
advantage of this, forced solidarity and 
.co-operate with one another towards 
operating industries for ourselves. The 
spirit of coroperation is, prevalent among 

u's" everywhere, and it has been tried so 

■ (14) 



often and failed, we are very suspicious 
of every movement of this kind. 

If the working class of the white race 
had the same powers at work, forcing 
them in one indisputable class, as we 
have, I am sure they would have solved 
the working class problem long ago. So 
many of them believe, because a few 
have gotten out of their class and become 
rich, all can. We all know that we 
haven't an equal chance with the poorj 
white, let alone the rich. There are two 
reasons for our failures along this line, 
dishonesty and ignorance ; the dishonesty 
of some individual who was foremost in 
advocating the "get together", idea, our 
ignorance of not knowing how to pro- 
tect our interest. But now, I think, we 
have reached that place in our struggle 
for a higher civilization, where we can, 
without even a chance for failure, co- 
op successfully. In forming any lit- 
tle co-operative business in the past, the 
wron"- fellow, usuallv, was selected to 
run it. Sometimes thev were whollv in- 
competent, besides being dishonest. 
Men have been selected because of their 
popularity or because they had more 
money, and given full power to run; 
things to suit themselves. Right here 
is where wg have failed. 

Ability to do business is the first and 
the most important asset. To be suc- 
cessful we must 1)orrow some ideas from 
the rich man's corporation. "Make good 
or get out," there is no compromise,! they 
areUold, relentless and even cruel in their, 

(15) 



decision. In the past, Negroes have been 
easy, in some cases of premeditated rob- 
bery we have let the accused go without 
prosecution, on the account of his fam- 
ily, or because he has been a good man 
heretofore. No person should hold a 

position unless qualified, while honesty 
counts for something, we cannot depend 
upon that alone. You can make a man 
honest by placing him in a shape where 
dishonesty would be disastrous to him. 
Most all of us have at some time in the 
past put our money in these co-operative 
concerns and never got any returns. We 
were glad -to do it, we swelled Avith pride, 
thinking of the great possibilities that 
might develop from such an enterprise, 
only to be fooled and robbed of our 
money. But now is the time we can 
profit by our mistakes, and go about it 
with more confidence of success. Here 
is what should be done : First, find out 
what kind of an enterprise would likely 
succeed in your particular neighborhood. 
If there is some special kind of industry 
peculiarly adapted for that district, and 
is being successfully carried on by the 
white capitalist, don't look any farther 
for an enterprise. Drive your stakes 
right there. It may look impossible, you 
will, no doubt, be laughed at for enter- 
taining such a thought, but remember 
that labor is the creative force that 
brings into existence all wealth, without 
the hand of labor there could be no 
wealth. We, as a race, are rich in this 
particular line. We have plentv of labor 

(16) 



waiting- to be trained to do any, no mat- 
ter how much skill is needed, kind of hon- 
\^st work. I will cite vou a case of racial 
co-operation among the Italians of a cer- 
tain city in this country. The Italian 
ice peddlers were being discriminated 
against, they could not get ice until 
everybody else was supplied. This was 
against them, it made them lose their 
trade ; it was a trick of the big ice con- 
*cern to force them out of the business, 
but instead it forced them into business. 
The ice peddlers called a meeting- and 
discussed the ice business until they 
reached one conclusion to co-op 
and build for themselves an ice plant. 
They did it, and today it is a great enter- 
prise for the ice peddlers of the Italian 
colony. We could do the same thing in 
any city, or even, in the country, we 
could co-op and own many big 
farms. Just think of more than 20,000 
Negroes in a city of 200,000, a distribut- 
ing point, where you will find more than 
200 large wholesale houses, and not one 
of them owned by a colored person, not 
even one department in any of them run 
by Negroes, not a Negro holding a cleri- 
cal job in any of them ; this state of af- 
fairs is not progress. 

I would like to, in this movement of 
bringing together mem])ers of the race, 
through a National Organization, in time, 
find enough people to co-op and build 
some great industrial institution, giving 
our race a chance to demonstrate their 
true worth. There are many ways to be 

(17) 



defrauded in sucli undertakings, besides, 
the ever-present chance of failure by mis- 
takes. The grafter looms up as our 
greatest danger, this scoundrel has mis- 
led and wrecked every good start we 
have had toward co-operation. Most ev- 
ery member of the race is ready for co- 
operation, but the grafter is one obstacle, 
hard to overcome. 

Here is one plan I shall offer to head 
off the grafter : Do no do business with 
a stranger until you are thoroughly con- 
vinced you are right. Say for instance, 
500 people had agreed to put in $10.00 a 
piece to do a certain thing, of course 
some one will have to handle this money 
and they must be made responsible for 
the mone}'. Surety companies are glad 
at all times to do lousiness Avith us, and 
if a person should be rejected by the 
surety company, we could not use them. 
Another thing to avoid is, the one man 
proposition or "my co-operative con- 
cern," there is no such thing as one man 
running a co-op, it can not be co- 
operative unless every member is as big 
as everybody else in the co-op- 
We may choose someone competent to 
fill a certain place, but is subject to re- 
moval by a vote of the co-op. 
There have been co-operative stores 

started where one man run them because 

he had ■ the most money invested, they 

usually fail with everybody loser but the 

one man who ran them. With many of 

such irregularities happening everywhere 

(18) 



is our greatest drawback in starting 

fmething of any magnitude. 
We want an industrial organization of 
ch a proportion that nothing will be 
considered too big for it to undertake. 
When we, as a race can organize to the 
extent of a few 100,000 men and build in- 
dustries that will aggregate several mil- 
lion dollars, then we shall be on the road 
to a solution to the Negro problem. No- 
body has ever gained recognition without 
making some definite effort towards 
firmness of purpose or showing power of 
some sort. Weakness is always despised 
l)y the stronger, even though, the strong 
have made them weak. The time has 
come when we shall have to show our 
worth, whether w^e are fit to survive ; 
asking favors will not be tolerated long, 
we will face the world as failures. Let 
ns do something. 



THE END 



M D - 1 9. 5 



Don't You Know Why? 

So Many People, Particular and Other- 
wise -CALL WEST 4187 OVER THE 
BELL— BECAUSE 

Gray's Printing 

"THAT'S RIGHT" 

Is FIRST, SECOND AND ALWAYS - 

THE BEST. Ask Anybody 

tW Mail Orders Promptly Filled 

THE GRAY PRINTING CO. 

5TH STREET and OAKLAND AVENUE 
KANSAS CITY - - KANSAS 



1 



The most interesting colored pa- 
per in America today is ? 

THE TRAWLER 

THE TRAWLER is an Indus- 
trial paper with a real tenable ' 
solution for the Negro Problem 



It proposes to form one great 
Industrial Union among Negroes 



It is published the 15th of each 
month, subscription 25c. per 
year ^ 

557 Grand Avenue 
Kansas City Missouri 



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